My wife and I sailed the Star's Mexican Rivera cruise last week. We previously rode the Star during her Fall repositioning from Vancouver to Los Angeles, and fell in love with her. The staff was friendly and efficient, the food was ... Read More

My wife and I sailed the Star's Mexican Rivera cruise last week. We previously rode the Star during her Fall repositioning from Vancouver to Los Angeles, and fell in love with her. The staff was friendly and efficient, the food was great, and we really liked the feel of the public spaces--except for the Galleria shop, which we thought previously resembled a department store bargain basement.
Now that we've done another week on her, and have before and after comparisons, we still like the Star but will probably not sail her again. The recent retrofit has some distinct hits and some equally dismal misses. The biggest loss is, of course, the forward Spinnaker lounge. I did manage to be in the right place and the right time to see inside the deck 12 construction zone forward of the pool. It's completely gutted except for areas on both sides which I assume are the old restrooms. It was a bit sad standing at the pool-side doors and looking all the way forward out the front windows. To our surprise, we liked the new aft Spinnaker, even though it was awfully dark and the dance floor was tiny--eight couples pretty much filled the floor. Besides losing the view windows, which will be crucial on any sightseeing cruise such as Alaska or Panama, the ship felt much smaller with such a huge public area closed. There was simply not enough room to get away from the crowds, and nowhere that was as quiet as the now-shuttered old library. It was impossible to sit quietly and read without distraction. We also missed the movie theater; watching a movie on a 19 inch television, in wide-screen mode just doesn't compare.
The new shops, photo display, and new Blue Lagoon location are definite improvements. However, in the haste to complete those changes during drydock, the shops were poorly built. The walls of the hallway are a cheap, dark wood-grained plastic laminate, contrasting badly with the rich, exotic wood laminates used throughout the rest of the ship. Also, no consideration was apparently given to lighting in the new jewelry shop; it's so dim the jewels have no sparkle.
One of the "changes" still puzzles me. The port side of the Garden market buffet used to become La Trattoria in the evening. I understand the new restaurant on Deck 6, replaces La Trattoria, but Norwegian still shuts the port side of the buffet in the evening--without doing anything in that space at all.
The staff is still wonderfully friendly, and our cabin stewards were outstanding. The food was plentiful and delicious. The shows haven't changed, which can be seen as either good or bad depending whether you really like them or whether you think that it's time for Norwegian to update the entertainment.
All in all, we enjoyed our return to the Star, and will miss her as she leaves the west coast for her new home port in Florida. Read Less